Ghanjah

A ghanjah or ganjaThabit A. J. Abdullah, The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra, SUNY series in the Social and Economic History of the Middle East, 2000, (), is a large wooden trading dhow, a traditional Indian sailing vessel.Clifford W. Hawkins, The dhow: an illustrated history of the dhow and its world

Description The ghanjah dhows had a curved prow with a characteristic trefoil ornament carved on top of the stem-head. They also had an ornately carved stern and quarter galleries. Their average length was with a keel-length and an average weight of 215 tons. Usually they had two masts, the main mast having a pronounced inclination towards the prow. They used two to three lateen sails; supplementary sails were often added on the bowsprit and on a topmast atop the main mast.Too Late to Document Dhows?

The ghanjah is often difficult to distinguish from the baghlah, a similar type of dhow. Besides the trefoil-shaped carving on top of the stem-head, ghanjahs usually had a more slender shape.The Traditional Dhow

History Ghanjahs were widely used in the past centuries as merchant ships in the Indian Ocean between the western coast of the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.Gardiner, Robert (2001 ). The Victory of Seapower. Caxton Editions. . p. 89 Many ghanjahs were built at traditional shipyards in Sur, Oman,The Traditional Dhow as well as in Beypore, Kerala, India.

Ghanjahs were largely replaced by the newer-designed and easier to maneuver booms in the 20th century.

Ghanjah

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